One Piece Special: Magical Misfits!
by FourthWallBreaker
Summary: In an AU where DFs don't exist and magic does, some people are completely changed - in origins and powers. In this collection of short stories - perhaps out of order - follow this collection of magical misfits as they travel in a similar path to the original StrawHats, but not quite... First story (2-shot): How the pirates gained a ship and a swordsman at the same time.
1. Tree Demon? (part 1)

**"The Magical Misfit Pirates": One Piece Special!**

 _Oh, hey. I didn't think I'd get any attention for this. Then again, FWB has always said that people can have the craziest of interests..._

 _Anyway, I'm Maria, the OC who's been having the amnesia problems for the last few months. FWB - FourthWallBreaker - asked me recently if I'd had any particularly weird dreams involving the Straw Hats, and I told her about this one._

 _In this world, there are no Devil Fruits. Absolutely none. So people make up for those fruits by doing something even more idiotic: messing with magic._

 _I'm not about to start to go into how Ace and other Logias came into existence now, but I can tell you that it wasn't in the usual way._

 _Basically, everyone in this version of One Piece ended up getting affected somehow by magic - magic objects, magic spells, you name it. As a result, that makes what they can do just a little bit different, but not really by much in most cases._

 _You're probably wondering where all of this is going, and if I'll ever shut up so that you can get to the story. Don't worry - I'll be out of your way soon. I'm just going to warn you now that this is going to be a bit of a...I think it's called a "drabble fic?" Anyway, it's just a collection of short stories that revolve around these magically-affected Straw Hats. Starting with the crew setting off._

 _Oh, and by the way - FourthWallBreaker doesn't own anybody in this story, just the idea of the whole "magical" bit._

 **Chapter 1 - Tree Demon? (part 1)**

When Luffy woke up in the morning, he found himself looking up at two figures with wide grins.

"Today's the day, right?" asked one of the figures, grinning.

"Right!" Luffy gained a wide grin, then sat up and got to his feet. "Franky said yesterday that he's ready to put the ship together, so I'm gonna make sure that everyone else knows we're gonna help him out! You can help, too."

"Nah, this is your crew, remember?" the black-haired teen who had been speaking grabbed the orange cowboy hat from a nearby wooden peg in the wall and put it on his head. "It wouldn't be right if we got in the way."

"But you guys want to set sail, too! You could join my-"

"NO!" came two annoyed responses.

Luffy gave them a pouting expression. "But Ace~! Sabo~!"

"We already agreed that having the three of us captaining is going to be impossible," Sabo said seriously. He folded his arms across his chest. "Especially since Fire Sprite over there is too afraid to go out to sea because of all the water."

Ace's face turned red at the nickname. "Oi! I didn't ever say that you could call me that!"

Luffy laughed at his older brothers' antics as Sabo responded, "I don't see why I can't call you whatever I want, since I'm the only one of us who's actually a magical monster." As though to prove the blond's point, a tail with royal blue scales snaked around from behind Sabo and poked Ace's left arm.

"Yeah, well, you weren't the one who used to be an honest-to-goodness bonfire," Ace responded, rubbing his arm and scowling. "Can you say that you were _created_ with magic?"

Luffy continued laughing as he picked his nose. "I got turned into rubber by Shanks and a nasty mountain bandit! I think that makes me the most unusual!"

"IT DOESN'T!" Ace and Sabo barked back at Luffy, Sabo's teeth sharpening as he practically snarled the words.

Luffy just laughed off his brothers' response, then removed his finger from his nose and grinned widely. "Well, I'm gonna go meet everybody and head over to Franky's! I'll see you guys later!" He grabbed a chunk of dried meat from where it was lying on the floor - the last of yesterday's catch. It would tide him over until he could catch something else later.

"Make sure you come back before you leave so that you can tell us what exactly it is that you're doing," Ace responded.

"And don't do anything reckless," Sabo added, giving Luffy a serious look with his golden, reptilian eyes. "I don't want to have to come flying in to rescue you all the time."

Luffy gained a frowning expression. "I can protect myself!"

"Then make sure that you do!" Ace shot back, grinning.

"Shishishishishi!"

Luffy waved back to his brothers as he walked out of the treehouse that they had been living in for the last ten years before jumping down and landing on the ground, miraculously managing to avoid bouncing around like a rubbery ball. He'd had to learn how to stop doing that back when he was eight - especially since Ace and Sabo had teased him about it so much.

It wasn't _his_ fault that the bandit hadn't known what he was doing and had turned Luffy into rubber when he had been aiming for Shanks!

Luffy grinned at the thought of the red-haired wizard-pirate and touched the straw hat on top of his head in a fond manner. "Soon, Shanks. I'm gonna go out there and become King of the Pirates, just like I promised!"

With that said, Luffy took off at a jog down the mountain towards Foosha - otherwise known as the "Town of Magical Misfits" by any outsiders. Mainly because of all the magically affected people who had somehow turned up on their shores. Luffy had made it a point in the past to try and find people to make friends with - if only because some people were _really_ interesting and he could get them to join his crew!

Luffy reached the bottom of the mountain without any issue from any of the local beasts - those lived on the _other_ side of the mountain, luckily - and he arrived on the main street of town. As soon as his sandaled feet hit tamped earth, he made a beeline for the docks - the planned meeting place of his soon-to-be pirate crew.

It was easy enough to find them - Franky was laughing at a joke Usopp had made while Sanji was fawning over Nami, who was starting to look a little annoyed. Meanwhile, Brook - the skeleton who they had picked up from an abandoned cemetery last week - was sitting in the back of the group, looking over a lyre that Usopp had somehow managed to cobble together.

"Hi, guys!" Luffy called out as he came to a stop. The other five looked up at his voice and grinned in greeting.

"What took you so long, Luffy?" Usopp asked. The long-nosed teenager was probably the most normal out of the entire group. "I was starting to wonder if I had to send my eight thousand followers to look for you!"

The only thing that was different was that Usopp had eaten a mushroom that had turned him into a near-constant habitual liar. As a result, he now avoided mushrooms like the plague. At least, that was what he always _said_.

Luffy grinned widely and laughed off Usopp's exclamation, then made a beeline for Franky, who was standing at the entrance to his shipwright workshop. "You gonna make the ship now?"

"Everything's all set!" the teal-haired man responded, grinning widely. "All I need now is the wood, and I know just where to go for it."

"Yosh!" Luffy's grin became even wider.

"I'm gonna leave the wood-gathering to you guys," Nami commented, spinning the blue staff in her hands in an almost lazy manner. Usopp had made it for her not too long after he had joined the crew - he may have been an excellent liar and sniper, but he was handy when it came to random gadgets. He and Franky got along so well, it was almost like the two of them were related.

"Anything to get a decent kitchen to work in," groused a certain blond around his cigarette. "What do you want to make this ship out of, Franky? Oak or something?"

"What we're looking for isn't an ordinary tree," Franky responded, looking over at Luffy's cook.

"It isn't?" Usopp repeated, frowning.

The shipwright shook his head. "I've got a specific type of wood in mind. It's a rare kind that is so expensive that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on an actual living tree. And even then the wood might not be healthy enough." He jabbed a thumb back behind him. "I managed to find out a couple days ago that there's a healthy tree up on the other side of the mountain."

"The other side?!" Nami looked at Franky in alarm. Luffy saw that his navigator's hair was starting to spark a little - the "weather witch" tended to release storm clouds whenever she got angry or uneasy enough.

"I-I've heard rumors about that part of the island," Usopp said worriedly. "I heard that there are monsters over there that eat human flesh and come from the world beyond!"

Brook looked up from his lyre. "Monsters from the world beyond?!" The skeleton let out a shriek of terror.

Luffy burst out laughing. "That sounds like fun!" A moment later, however, he gained a more frowning expression. "But there aren't monsters from the world beyond. There's just that stupid Tiger Lord that my brothers and I beat a year ago."

Usopp let out a sigh of relief.

"But there _is_ that weird-looking tree that the animals don't like very much. It's almost as tall as the tree we live in."

Usopp squeaked in alarm when he heard that.

"That's the tree that I'm looking for," Franky said, nodding.

"I heard about that tree," Nami said nervously. "Isn't that the tree that supposed to have a demon in it?"

"A _demon_?" Luffy turned and looked at Nami eagerly.

A shudder ran down Brook's visible spine, shaking his ever-present afro. "Demons are creatures from the world beyond that should best be avoided." He made a motion that was clearly meant to ward evil off and started strumming his lyre while humming nervously.

"Demons aren't all _that_ bad," Franky said. "I know that there were a couple demons working at the shipwright docks I used to work at. So long as you have them bound to something so that they'll _listen_ to the higher-ups, they're all right to work with. Shoot - there was a shipwright in Water 7 who was a demon who could transform into a giraffe!"

"Cool!" Luffy's eyes were sparkling eagerly. "I wanna meet the demon! Maybe he'll join our crew!"

"NO!" Nami, Usopp, and Brook all yelled at once.

"Maybe if it's a demoness~!" Sanji cooed, his visible eye turning into a heart for a moment as the unstable love potion in his body came into affect.

There came a low rumble of thunder as black clouds started coming out of Nami's ears. She raised a fist and slammed it into Sanji's head, glaring at him angrily. "Even if it's a demoness, it's not getting on the crew!"

Luffy didn't hear Nami's declaration as he looked up at Franky eagerly. "How do we get a demon to join the crew?"

"Depends on the kind of demon," Franky responded, rubbing a finger under his metal nose - the only thing that showed why he had ended up on the island of "Magical Misfits" in the first place. "There are unbound demons and there are bound demons. The unbound ones can be recruited just like any normal person - you just have to make sure that they're interested enough to keep going with you for as long as you ask them to. Bound demons, on the other hand, are a different story altogether. Because they've been bound to an object, you have to make sure that the object stays with them at all times so that they can move around."

"How do you know so much, Franky?" Usopp asked hesitantly. He hedged a glance in Sanji's direction and saw that he was still sparking from Nami's hit, a large bump on the blond's head.

"Like I said, there are a few of them that work at Water 7," Franky repeated. "Kaku and Lucci were foremen who Iceberg found and hired a while back - Kaku's the giraffe I mentioned, and Lucci can turn into a big cat sometimes if you annoy him enough. Lucci's actually bound to this little pigeon that's always riding around on his shoulder - the only reason I know that is because of an incident he had a while back." Franky snickered at the memory, but didn't bother to elaborate. "Demon-bound objects and animals are said to be stronger than any normal animal or object, and they're curse resistant. Even after the demon isn't bound to the object, that strength is still there. We could use that strength to make a strong ship."

"Whoa..." Usopp gained a nervous expression. "S-so, what are we gonna do with the one that's stuck to that tree you wanted?"

"We should probably give him something else that he can be bound to before I start chopping up the tree," Franky responded. "Since you guys have been living around here for longer than I have, I thought that you might be able to tell me something about the demon - there's got to be some kind of legend about him getting sealed up in the tree or something like that."

Luffy and the others exchanged looks with blank expressions for a moment.

"Maybe...meat?" Luffy suggested after a moment.

Nami knocked him over the head. "No way that'd work, dumbass! When the meat gets rotten and falls apart, the same thing's gonna happen to the demon!" The orange-haired teen let out a sigh of annoyance and shook her head at Luffy as he rubbed his head with an expression of annoyance.

"And I am not about to waste some perfectly good food on this," Sanji added seriously.

"Do you think we could get the demon an animal?" Usopp suggested.

Luffy shook his head. "The animals don't like that part of the mountain."

"Perhaps a weapon?"

Everyone looked over at the talking skeleton in alarm.

"A weapon?" Usopp's knees started knocking together. "To a _demon_? It could just go ahead and kill every single one of us then and go on a rampage!"

"Not necessarily." Brook strummed on the lyre for a moment, then continued, "From what I can remember of myths involving demons, if you give them an item to bond to - rather than force it upon them - they become indebted to the person who gave them the object and are forced to serve them for the rest of their days. In other words, whether or not he is still bonded to the tree after Franky has turned it into our ship, we will still have the demon on our crew anyway."

"You're surprisingly calm about this," Nami commented, turning and frowning at the skeleton.

"Yohohoho. Well, you yourselves said that nothing ever got in the way of Luffy-san's decisions for the crew. And I believe he has made a decision already on the matter of the demon."

Brook was right about that - there was such a look on Luffy's face now that Nami and the others were sure that there wasn't going to be any escape from the thought of a demon joining the crew.

"Sabo's got some cool weapons hiding around somewhere!" Luffy offered. "He'd probably be okay with us taking one and giving it to the demon!" With that, Luffy turned and ran off towards the mountain. "I'll meet you guys by the tree later! I know where it is!"

The rubber boy didn't hear the response that his exclamation gave; he was already moving fast enough that he was well out of range for their voices.

It didn't take Luffy too long to climb up the mountain again. By the time he had reached the treehouse, Ace and Sabo had clearly restocked their store of meat and were in the process of roasting some for their own breakfast.

Luffy sat down and grabbed a leg of the fat panda-like bear before either one of his older brothers could offer a word of protest.

"Back so soon?" Sabo asked, looking amused.

Ace, on the other hand, looked annoyed. "Oi! You said you were going to be out all day helping Franky look for wood for that ship you were going to make!"

Luffy swallowed what remained of the bear leg and spat out the bone; his belly started to slowly shrink as his metabolism worked its magic and redirected the energy quickly to his muscles. "Franky and the others are gonna meet me at the tree he wants to use. I came up here because Sabo might have something we could use."

"Me?" Sabo's ever-present, royal blue dragon tail twitched. "What do you mean?"

"There's a demon in the tree." Luffy grinned widely. "And I want him to be my nakama."

Ace and Sabo exchanged looks when they heard this.

"So I need a weapon or something to give to it! You have stuff like that, right, Sabo?"

Sabo considered his younger brother's statement for a moment."Ah...I do, Luffy. But I don't know if getting a demon to be your nakama would be such a good idea. They can be known to backstab people sometimes."

"Brook said that if I gave it something, it would be my nakama and wouldn't attack me or anything like that," Luffy said seriously. "Besides, Franky's gonna use the demon's tree, so it's gonna be my nakama whether it likes it or not."

Ace looked at Luffy like he was insane, but then he let out a sigh and shook his head. "You're heart's pretty set on this, huh? Like when you went over to that other island and took out all those fishmen a month back. You're lucky you weren't shredded to pieces."

"Nami needed my help." Luffy folded his arms across his chest, scowling. "I wasn't gonna let some fishman get away with making my navigator cry."

Sabo paused at that, then let out a sigh. "All right, Luffy. I'll take you to where we've got the pirate fund from Gray Terminal, but you can only take one thing from there that you think this 'demon' might want."

Luffy grinned and nodded vigorously. "Yosh! Arigotou, Sabo!"

Sabo simply gave his brother a smirk, and then his entire form started to shift and change. Within moments, a royal blue and yellow dragon was curing around the clearing, his wings looking like some kind of cloak for a moment before completely unfurling.

Without hesitating, Luffy jumped on, and the dragon took off into the air, circling once around the treehouse before flying for a more rocky portion of the mountain high above them - one of the few places that the wild animals didn't go to.

Here was where Sabo had hidden his "pirate fund" - a code name for his treasure horde, a dragon's pride and joy. Even more so for the royal blue dragon, as he was the only one who was able to boast such a treasure trove for miles in the East Blue. Sabo had talked about becoming a pirate himself a long time ago, but that dream had changed to protecting the island he lived on - as well as his brothers.

Sabo landed on the rocky ledge that was outside the cave at the top of the mountain, and Luffy eagerly scrambled off and dashed inside. The royal blue dragon followed after him, keeping a close eye on the rubbery teen as he started to scramble over the small pile of gold and gems that were in the cave.

"I'm glad you didn't bring that weather witch with you this time." Sabo came to a stop in front of the pile of gold while Luffy dug through it. "It was enough of a nightmare last time trying to convince her not to get away with anything."

Luffy probably would have laughed in agreement had he not been distracted by the mission that he had given himself: to find a weapon that a demon might be willing to bond with. He was having a difficult time of it, though - mainly because none of the weapons that he was finding really felt right...

Something shifted in the pile, and Luffy lifted his head. He caught sight of a white something sliding down the pile of treasure and onto the floor of the cave; the rubbery teen leapt for it.

It was some kind of sword in a simple white sheath and with a matching white handle. It didn't really look all that fantastic compared to everything else that was in Sabo's treasure horde...but that meant that Sabo wouldn't mind parting with it, either.

"Oooh!" Luffy looked over the sword, a bright light of interest and eagerness in his eyes. "This looks cool." He drew the sword out of the sheath and held it up in the air so that he could get a better look at it.

"That's a katana," Sabo commented, lumbering over in his dragon form. A frown came across his reptilian face. "But how did _that_ particular one end up in here...?"

"Ne, Sabo! Can I give this one to the demon?" Luffy nearly shoved the blade in Sabo's face, causing the dragon to step back.

"Be careful, Luffy! Swords were made to cut people, remember?" Sabo muttered something about idiotic brothers under his breath while Luffy gained a sheepish expression as he sheathed the sword. "You can take it; I'm not about to use a sword anytime soon."

Luffy gained a wide grin. "Arigotou, Sabo!"

"Don't mention it." Sabo grinned, showing his sharp teeth. "How about I get you to your friends, then?"

"Shishishishi! They're meeting me near where the demon tree is!"

"All right, then. Let's go!"

 **Time Break**

When Sabo and Luffy had landed outside of the forest, the rubbery teen had a sour frown on his face.

"Franky! Where's Sanji and Nami and Usopp and Brook?" Luffy demanded as he slid off Sabo's back.

Franky shrugged. "They didn't really want to face a demon, even after I said we were probably going to be fine. The only reason Nami let me go is that I said we needed at least me and you in order to get the tree I'm looking for." The metal-nosed shipwright gave what looked like a salute to Sabo, who nodded in response.

Luffy scowled and folded his arms across his chest, still holding onto the white katana in his right hand. "Wimps."

"That's what I was thinking!" Franky responded.

"You two had better hope that you know what you're doing," Sabo commented, looking at his brother and the shipwright.

"Don't worry, Sabo!" Luffy responded, grinning brightly. "We'll be fine! And I'll come back with a demon as my nakama!"

With that, Luffy turned and started into the forest. Franky quickly moved after him, leaving the dragon looking after his brother with an expression that seemed to say he was somewhere between trusting his brother and wanting to beat his brother's head in.

Not that Luffy noticed. He was in a cheery mood at the thought of picking up a new nakama, and not even the killer intent his brother was seeming to release could dull his eagerness one bit.

"So, that's the weapon we're gonna use?" Franky looked at the sword that Luffy was carrying.

"Yup! We need an official swordsman, anyway. Brook's the crew's musician, remember?"

"Yeah, I know that. But do you think that the demon's going to even _want_ to be a swordsman?"

Luffy blinked at that, then shrugged and started singing. "Oh, the islands in the north are cold~!"

Franky flinched at his captain's horrific singing voice as he grimaced. However, there really wasn't much that he could do about it - Luffy was Luffy, and there was no way that his singing was going to get any better anytime soon. If anything, it was probably going to get worse.

Franky had managed to get Luffy to stop singing before he got to the third verse of his "Island Song" by the time they had reached the tree that the shipwright had been looking for.

"This is it." Franky stopped at the edge of the clearing and motioned to the large, tall tree that was in front of them.

"Whoa!" Luffy tilted his head back and looked up in amazement. "It's definitely gotta be bigger than mine!"

Franky laughed. "Yup! This tree's been on the island for a long time. Maybe even longer than Foosha Village has been around."

Luffy practically had stars in his eyes. "So, where's the demon, Franky? I wanna meet the demon!" He started dancing about, looking like he was about to take off running around the clearing.

"Hold your horses there, Luffy! I can't make the demon come out."

Luffy gained a pouting expression. "But you gotta talk to him before you turn the tree into a ship, right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"Then make him come out!"

Franky looked like he wanted to protest, but then he let out a sigh of annoyance and scratched his head - the action didn't so much as muss up his pompadour. "I can _try_ , but I don't think he's going to-" The shipwright cut himself off a moment later and looked at the tree with an expression of surprise.

"What is it?" Luffy looked at Franky curiously, then followed his gaze over to the tree. Then his own eyes widened, and a large grin appeared on his face.

A green tornado as tall as a man had formed in front of the tree.

Stars quickly formed in Luffy's eyes as the green tornado actually started to look more and more like a human. The black boots formed first, followed shortly by black pants, some sort of dark green cloak, a red sash, a green haramaki hiding underneath the cloak, a bare chest with a large scar that seemed to start at the left shoulder...

By the time that the head of the demon was completely formed, the number of stars in Luffy's eyes and around his head had increased to the point that it almost looked like he was the center of a small galaxy.

Franky looked the demon over, raising an eyebrow at the fact that he seemed to have _green_ hair. It wasn't the most unusual thing he had seen, but it was still pretty unusual to see green hair on a person.

The demon folded his arms across his chest and glared at Franky and Luffy. "What are you doing here?"

"Franky wants to make a ship!" Luffy responded, grinning widely. "You're really cool!"

The demon looked like he was about to say something, but he was cut off by the second part of Luffy's statement, leaving him looking a little thrown off. The green-haired demon quickly recovered from his shock, however, shaking his head for a moment.

"So your friend wants to build a ship," the demon said. "Why come to me?"

"We're gonna use your tree." Luffy pointed up at the tree behind the demon, using the hand that was holding onto the katana.

" _My_ tree?" The demon frowned. "What makes you think you're ever going to be able to use my tree?" His left arm twitched, as though he was going to uncross his arms and reach for something, but then his frown soured into something that looked more like a scowl.

"Franky said it'd be a strong ship, and I'm gonna have nothing less than the best when I become King of the Pirates!" Luffy pointed at himself, grinning broadly.

The demon scoffed at that. "Since when can pirates have a king? They're reckless morons who only think about themselves and killing innocents."

"Pirates have the most freedom on the seas!" Luffy shot back. "I wanna become a pirate because of the adventure!"

Franky grinned at that. "Don't forget about the One Piece."

"Yeah!"

"One Piece?" The demon snorted. "There's no way that exists. It's just a myth."

"No it's not! Gold Roger found it twenty years ago!"

"Twenty years-" The demon cut himself off as his eyes widened. "That's not possible."

"Yeah it-"

"Hold on, Luffy." Franky cut his captain off, then looked at the green-haired demon directly. "I think I know what's going on. You haven't been able to get too far away from this clearing, have you?"

The demon held Franky's gaze for a moment, but then his eyes strayed elsewhere and the demon closed his eyes.

"So you haven't been able to keep up with what's going on outside of this forest," Franky said.

"Franky?" Luffy looked at Franky in confusion.

"Remember how I said that demons can't move too far away from certain objects if they're bound to them?" At Luffy's nod, Franky continued, "If the object can't move, then neither can the demon. Where he's standing now is probably as far as he can move from the tree."

Luffy frowned at that. "I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd go nuts if I wasn't able to go and hunt for meat!"

As the rubber teen spoke, something started softly glowing somewhere near him, getting his and Franky's attention.

"Huh?" Luffy held up the white katana, frowning at the soft glow that was coming off it. "What-"

There came a surprised noise from the demon, causing Luffy and Franky to look over at him in surprise. The demon was staring at them with wide, shocked eyes - or, rather, he was staring at the _katana_.

"Is that...?" The demon didn't look like he could believe his eyes.

Luffy looked down at the katana for a moment, then back at the demon. With a straight face, he walked towards the green-haired man and held out the katana in front of him at arm's length.

The demon's eyes moved sharply from the katana to Luffy's eyes when the rubbery teen came to a stop in front of the demon. The two remained like that for a moment before the demon's eyes flicked to the katana. Hesitantly, the demon reached forward and grabbed hold of the katana's sheath.

As soon as the demon's hand gripped the sheath, the glow on the katana suddenly increased. The demon's face contorted into a grimace as he grunted in pain, but he refused to let go.

Luffy kept his own grip on the katana for a moment, then let go and stepped back from the demon so that he could grab the sheath with both hands.

The demon did so, and at the same time, a dark aura seemed to rise up from him, forming what looked like a figure with nine arms and three faces. However, the light from the white katana brightened, then, causing the aura to dissipate. At the same time, the demon let out a yell of pain while steam rose up from his hands - it almost looked like he was being burned.

A moment later, the demon collapsed, curling in on himself and holding onto the katana like it was a lifeline.

"Oi, oi!" Franky moved towards the demon and got down on his knees to inspect the demon. "Are you all right?"

The demon responded with a groan, but he didn't move from the position he was lying in. After a moment, however, he managed to push himself into an upright position against the tree, where he lay, breathing heavily. The white katana ended up lying across his lap, his hands still holding tightly to it. It took a little longer before the demon said anything.

"I'm fine," the demon said stiffly.

"Get away from Zoro!"

Luffy lifted his head when he heard what sounded like a little kid shouting, and he turned his head in the direction of the voice. He blinked in confusion a moment later.

"A raccoon dog?" Luffy asked, blinking at the little figure hiding the wrong way behind the tree. It looked like a little human, but the creature had brown fur, a blue nose, a bright pink top hat with a white "X" on it, and weird-looking antlers sticking out of either side of the hat.

"I'm a reindeer, you stupid human!" the creature barked back. "What did you do to Zoro?"

"Zoro?" Luffy blinked, a blank expression on his face.

"He's talking about Kenshi-san."

Franky and Luffy looked up while the green-haired demon muttered something under his breath.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked, curious.

"Woman, how many times have I told you to not come and bother me?" the demon demanded, glaring up at one of the tree's lower branches.

The dark-haired woman sitting in the branches gave a laugh, then turned her attention fully to Luffy. "Perhaps it might be better if you introduced yourself first? After all, you do have a rather angry reindeer looking at you at the moment."

"Oh!" Luffy looked over at the talking reindeer, who was still watching him warily, then back up at the woman. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm going to become King of the Pirates!"

The green-haired demon snorted at the introduction while the dark-haired woman looked amused.

"The name's Franky," Franky added.

"I'm Nico Robin," the woman said, smiling slightly. She looked down at the demon below her. "Kenshi-san, go ahead and introduce yourself."

The demon grunted. "Roronoa Zoro." He looked down at the katana in his hands for a moment before looking over at the talking reindeer that was behind the tree. "Hey, Chopper, you're hiding the wrong way again!"

The reindeer scrambled at that and managed to hide behind the tree the right way.

"We can still see you, Doctor-san," Robin called. "You might as well come over here and inspect Kenshi-san - I doubt that our visitors mean him any harm."

"Wh-what about me?" Chopper responded. He slipped behind the tree again and peeked out...once again hiding the wrong way.

"A doctor?" Luffy gained an eager expression. "You're a doctor? Cool!"

"We could use a doctor," Franky commented with a thoughtful expression. "Especially since we don't have one on the crew yet."

Chopper blinked. "Y-you...you don't want to eat me?"

"Eat you?" Luffy frowned. "You can talk. That means I can't eat you. Sabo tells me that kind of thing all the time."

"Sabo...?" Chopper looked confused for a moment before understanding crossed his features. He slowly, hesitantly, moved out from behind the tree, then made a beeline for Zoro while Franky and Luffy moved back a little from the demon. "What happened, Zoro? I heard you yell like you were getting stabbed or something!"

Zoro grunted as the little reindeer-monster climbed up onto his lap. "It's just my hands, Chopper. They felt like they were being burned, but I...I can't move them."

"Your hands?" Chopper turned and looked down at where Zoro's hands were gripping the white katana. He started to try and pry the fingers off them, but his hooves weren't able to get them to so much as budge.

Robin leaned forward on her branch, an interested expression on her face. "Oh, my."

"What is it?" Franky looked up at Robin curiously.

"It seems that you've managed to bond Kenshi-san to that katana, Wado Ichimonji - one of the 21 O Wazamono Grade swords, I believe," Robin commented. "I didn't think that you would have attempted such a thing, considering that you were here for this tree instead of a fighter like Kenshi-san."

Franky laughed. "What makes you say that?"

"I want a demon on my crew!" Luffy said in a determined tone. He grinned down at Zoro. "And we were gonna get you anyway if we cut down your tree."

Chopper turned sharply when he heard this and looked up at Luffy in alarm. Zoro, on the other hand, let out a groan and gained an annoyed expression that clearly said what he thought about the whole idea.

"I don't think you're going to get much of a choice in the matter, Kenshi-san," Robin remarked. She slid off the branch she had been sitting on and landed on the ground on light feet. "When Luffy gave you that katana, it seems that he not only forged a bond between you and the sword, but between you and him as well while breaking your ties to the tree."

Zoro's expression went from annoyed to alarmed. _"What?!"_

"You didn't know about that?" Franky asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought all demons were aware of it."

"We are," Robin responded. "Kenshi-san is simply a... _special_ case."

Luffy's head whipped around to look at Robin. "You're a demon, too?! Cool! Join my crew!"

"What do you mean, 'special case'?" Franky asked, ignoring his captain's demand.

"Perhaps it would be best if Kenshi-san explained himself." Robin sent Zoro a meaningful look, which caused the green-haired demon to respond with a dark glare and what was probably a low growl. Chopper, who was still busy trying to get Zoro's hands to let go of the katana, only paused to glance up before getting back to his work.

"Zoro?" Luffy cocked his head out of interest, looking at the demon in question.

Zoro felt Luffy's eyes on him, and he turned his head so that he could look at the straw hat-wearing boy. The dark look on his face shifted to something that made him look more like he was sulking. "I used to be a human, all right? The demon thing was just a curse that I ended up running into. And then I got stuck in that stupid tree."

Zoro added something under his breath that sounded like a curse, but Luffy didn't catch it. He wasn't particularly interested in that, either.

"Well, now you're with us," Luffy said. "You're my nakama."

Zoro eyed Luffy for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he let out a resigned sigh. "Yeah, I guess."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Zoro's hands relaxed on the katana.

 **Maria: So that's part one. I'll get FWB to post the other part of this bit later.**

 **FWB: I'll make sure it gets out, don't worry. In the meantime, would you guys let me know what you think of this? I've got a lot of ideas for this one that could definitely make things interesting. :) If you've got any opinions on what the other characters in One Piece are going to be - demon, human, whatever - don't be afraid to send me suggestions!**

 **See you later!**


	2. Tree Demon? (part 2)

_Hey, guys. Maria here again. It's taken a while, but I've finally managed to get FourthWallBreaker to put up the next chapter for this thing. She wanted to finish off the Water 7 arc of the other thingamajig she's doing before doing anything else with this one._

 _Thanks, Alder Niis and GrandMasters, for the Follows. At least I know this thing is getting attention from people._

 _Here's the next part. And if you want a disclaimer, I put one up on the first chapter._

 **Tree Demon? (part 2)**

Chopper was instantly grabbing Zoro's hands, spreading the fingers wide and sniffing them before poking at Zoro's palms with his hoove-like hands.

The only one watching Zoro's face during the entire exchange was Luffy, who seemed to find it amusing that Zoro's face twitched every time Chopper poked at his hands. He decided that he was going to have to try that later.

"That's strange." Chopper frowned, then moved away a bit so that Zoro could grab the katana again. "I don't see any damage on your hands, and your reflexes with them seem to work just fine..."

"My guess is that he yelled simply because the bond to his katana was cementing itself," Robin remarked thoughtfully.

Zoro grunted in response, then started to rise to his feet. Chopper backed away a bit so that Zoro wouldn't end up possibly stepping on him by accident. When Zoro had managed to get up on his feet, he slipped the katana through the red sash that went around his waist.

"Shipwright-san, you said you wanted to make a ship, correct?" Robin asked, turning her attention to Franky.

Franky nodded. "Yeah. I was wondering if I could use the tree that Zoro had been bound to, so that it wouldn't pick up any curses."

Robin hummed at that. "You have permission to do so. After all, Kenshi-san's bond has been moved from the tree to that sword. Otherwise, he would have left this world for the next one."

"What about you?" Luffy asked, turning his attentive eyes to the demoness. "You're a demon, too."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that I am bound to the tree." Robin appeared amused. "I think that I might travel with you for at least a while, Luffy-san. Something tells me that your crew would be very interesting to meet. And, if anything, it might assist Kenshi-san in adjusting to his new surroundings."

"Really?" Luffy gained a wide grin. "Shishishihsi!"

Zoro snorted. "Do whatever you want."

"C-can I come with you guys, too?"

Everyone in the clearing looked down at Chopper, who hesitated when he suddenly found himself being stared at.

"I - I mean..." Chopper paused for a moment, but he found that he didn't really need to say anything else.

"Sure!" Luffy gave Chopper a grin. "You're a doctor, right?"

"Huh? Y-yeah - it's been a while since I've found anyone I could learn from, though."

"We could use a doctor! You should join our crew!"

Chopper stared at Luffy with wide eyes. "J-join...? Are you sure?"

"Shishishi! Well, yeah! You're pretty cool!"

Chopper didn't look like he knew what to say to that. "C-can I think about it?"

"Sure! But I expect an answer!"

Something told Zoro that just meant Luffy was waiting for Chopper to say yes.

"So, now what?" Luffy looked over at Franky. "You said you wanted the tree, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't think we'll be able to cut it without a saw or an axe." Franky looked over at Zoro, his expression thoughtful. "You know how to use that sword, right? I've heard that some swordsman were strong enough to cut through steel."

Zoro's eyes narrowed at that. "A sword is _not_ meant to cut down trees," he stated stiffly.

Robin chuckled knowingly. "Perhaps, Shipwright-san, it would be a good idea not to ask Kenshi-san that question again. Swordsmen are quite particular about what their blades do and don't cut."

A certain rubbery captain didn't really look like he minded that. "Yosh. Then let's just head back to Sabo and ask him to get Usopp up here with the stuff we need." Luffy started walking out of the forest, and the rest of the group followed after him. Zoro actually made it a point to move up so that he could walk next to Luffy, while Franky moved back next to Robin. Chopper took advantage of his small size and managed to get up into Robin's arms.

"Who're Sabo and Usopp?" Zoro asked, eyeing his new captain.

"Sabo's my brother," Luffy responded, grinning. "And Usopp's my crew's sniper. He's a coward and a liar, too. And Nami's our navigator, Sanji's our cook, Brook's our musician, and Franky's our shipwright!"

"Brook?" Zoro tested the name, frowning. "That sounds...familiar."

"He was a guy who was brought back to life a while back," Franky explained. "Luffy found him in a cemetery, and he's been hiding out in my workshop."

Zoro didn't offer any words in response to that, simply absorbing the information with a straight face. The thought of what he was going to discover when he got out of the forest wasn't too far from his mind, and he knew that he was going to get answers about that sooner or later - preferably sooner, if at all possible. However, he wasn't exactly sure that he was going to like what he was going to find...especially since Luffy had given him _this_ katana, rather than any other one.

The demon reached down and gripped the handle of the katana now strapped to his waist, looking for some comfort in it. All he got back was an uneasy sense that seemed to hint that something had happened to the original owner of the blade - and he wasn't exactly sure that he was going to like what it was.

It didn't take too long for the group to reach the clearing where Luffy and Franky had met up. When they broke through the trees, Zoro stiffened at the sight that greeted them.

There was a dragon with royal blue scales and golden eyes lying in the clearing, looking at them with an unreadable expression.

Zoro stiffened as soon as he locked eyes with the scaly beast, and his hand moved quickly to the katana at his waist. Before he could draw it and launch himself at the dragon, however, Luffy suddenly dashed forward with a large grin on his face.

"Hi, Sabo!" Luffy wrapped his arms and legs around the dragon's neck, laughing as the dragon looked down at him. Zoro was shocked to see that the dragon actually looked _happy_ at having a human wrapped around its neck.

And then Luffy's exclamation finally hit the swordsman.

 _"Sabo?_ " Zoro repeated, staring at Luffy. "You mean that this...this _dragon_ is your brother?"

Sabo's eyes moved over to Zoro when he heard the exclamation, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yeah!" Luffy looked back at Zoro, still grinning. "He's my big brother!"

Zoro looked absolutely flabbergasted.

"You'll have to excuse Kenshi-san, Sabo-san," Robin spoke up, moving to stand next to Zoro. "He _was_ a samurai previously."

Zoro shot Robin a glare and was about to respond to her statement when someone else interrupted him.

"I can tell that he is a samurai, Robin," Sabo said in a deadpan tone. "He probably wouldn't be reaching for that katana otherwise.

Zoro stiffened. _The dragon was talking_. He hadn't been expecting that.

Luffy crawled up on top of Sabo's head. "Ne, Sabo! Zoro's my nakama now! He's a demon, and he's my swordsman!"

Sabo looked up at his younger brother. "Really? So that's the demon that was in the tree." He looked back at Zoro, who seemed a little unsure as to what exactly it was that he should do next.

Zoro noticed the intelligence in those golden eyes - not exactly something that he had been expecting in a dragon - and became more wary of Sabo. However, considering that his captain was presently sitting on Sabo's head, the demon decided that Sabo probably wasn't an actual danger, and he forced himself to relax.

"I wasn't expecting that Luffy's brother was a dragon," Zoro said, doing his best to hide his unsureness.

Sabo blinked, then gained a knowing expression. And then he started to change form. Seconds later, a blond young man wearing a dark blue top hat with goggles sitting on the rim was standing where the dragon had been a moment ago. Luffy, having fallen off during the transformation, was now sitting in front of him.

"I'm not his blood brother, if that's what your wondering," Sabo said as he adjusted his coat and tugged a little on the brim of his hat. "Neither is Ace, who you're probably going to meet sometime before Luffy casts off to look for the One Piece."

Zoro twitched a little at the mention of the mythical item. "Luffy said it had already been found."

"And it was promptly lost again, Kenshi-san," Robin explained. "Roger - the pirate who had discovered it - told the world twenty years ago to search for it right before he was executed."

"And our captain wants to find it," Franky added, grinning.

"Yeah!" Luffy leapt to his feet. "And then I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

"Yes, yes, shout it out to the world why don't you." Sabo rolled his eyes at his brother, but looked more amused than annoyed. He turned his attention back to Zoro, then walked forward so that he could stand face-to-face with the demon. Zoro decided against moving as Sabo walked around him, those piercing golden eyes scanning seemingly every inch of him.

"So, you're the demon who was bound to that tree," Sabo repeated as he came back around to look Zoro in the face again.

Zoro paused for a moment before giving a curt nod. "I am."

"I'd have thought that more of it would have shown besides the fact that you have green hair." Sabo seemed amused by that.

Zoro became annoyed, and his eyes narrowed. "My hair is _naturally_ this color. Don't think that it changed just because I got stuck in some stupid tree."

"Zoro told me that, too," Chopper piped up from where he was hiding behind the swordsman. When Sabo looked down at him, the reindeer gained a nervous expression before continuing, "I think his hair just changed color through a magic accident when he was younger. Things like that happen sometimes."

Zoro gained a scowl and muttered something under his breath before raising his voice again. "Someone tried to turn my hair black a long time ago, but it _changed back to my natural hair color_. It's _supposed_ to be green."

"Cool!" Luffy exclaimed, grinning widely.

Sabo didn't even react to his brother's exclamation, instead asking Zoro another question. "So, you're name is...?"

"Roronoa Zoro." Zoro gave a slight nod that almost seemed like a bow.

Sabo inclined his head. "Roronoa Zoro...I think I've heard that name somewhere before." He frowned, then looked over at Luffy. "Hey, Lu, didn't Gramps tell you and Ace a legend about a samurai who used three swords and disappeared over fifty years ago?"

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded vigorously. "It was really cool! But the names of the attacks Gramps said he used made me hungry..." He started drooling buckets of saliva.

"Can you remember the name of the samurai?"

Luffy frowned, but then his head started to turn red and he shook his head vigorously.

"Hmmm..." Sabo gained a thoughtful expression. "I'll have to double-check with Ace, but from what I can remember of the legend, his name sounded eerily familiar to yours, Zoro."

Zoro glanced down at Wado, then fingered the handle in an absent manner. "I _do_ know how to use three swords, but there were others who were training in order to master the style. You're probably thinking of someone who managed to fully master the control of it."

Sabo eyed Zoro for a moment, considering that, then gave a slight nod. "Maybe."

"Ne, Sabo!" Luffy leapt on his older brother from behind, wrapping his legs around Sabo's waist and his arms around his neck. "We need Usopp and everybody else up here so we can chop down Zoro's tree so Franky can make it into a ship! We gotta introduce them to Zoro, too!"

Sabo smirked and looked back at Luffy. "All right. You guys go on ahead - I'm going to make sure that Ace knows you've managed to pick up more nakama." He looked over at Robin for a moment, and then his gaze passed over Chopper and Zoro again. "He's definitely going to want to know what you're doing on _that_ part of the mountain."

"Yosh!" Luffy got off Sabo and bounded over to Zoro. He grabbed the demon's arm and started dragging him across the clearing. "Come on!"

Zoro fought to keep his balance as Luffy dragged him forward. Considering his size, there was a lot of strength in his grip.

Robin, Franky, and Chopper followed after the duo, Robin hiding her amusement behind a raised hand while Franky grinned broadly and Chopper looked curious.

No matter what was going to happen when they reached the others back at Franky's workshop, it was definitely going to be interesting.

 **Time Break**

Whatever it was that Zoro had been expecting when they reached the bottom of Mt. Corvo, it definitely hadn't been the sight of Foosha Village. The demon's eyes kept wandering and scanning the buildings with an expression of confusion - then interest when he caught sight of Party's Bar.

Zoro was definitely out of his element - not that he was planning on admitting it anytime soon. Robin looked like he was reading Zoro like a a book, though, if that amused look on her face was any indication.

"Franky's workshop is this way!" Luffy bounded ahead of the group and pointed ahead at the ocean on the horizon. "Everybody should still be waiting there."

Zoro's gaze moved away from the bar, which was now a good distance behind them, and looked over in the direction that Luffy was pointing. There was a large building ahead of them that appeared to be a warehouse of some kind. On the side was painted what looked like a ship with a lamb head and a skull-and-crossbones wearing a straw hat painted on the sail.

"Usopp wanted to practice his art," Franky explained, seeing Zoro's gaze moving over to the warehouse. "I think that came from a story he'd made up."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Usopp?"

"He's our sniper."

"And an artist, apparently," Robin commented, eyeing the ship with an interested expression. "That's actually quite good."

Zoro raised an eyebrow at the comment, and looked at the ship that "Usopp" had painted on the side of the warehouse. He wasn't exactly so sure about the style of the art, but he did have to admit, it looked almost like the ship was going to come floating off the wall at any second.

The group walked around to the open side of the warehouse, where Zoro stopped short out of surprise again when a certain long-nosed boy with curly black hair suddenly came running out of nowhere and rammed into Luffy.

"LUFFY!" Usopp looked like he was about to burst into tears. "We were thinking you'd been consumed by the demon or something!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow at that, gaining an incredulous expression while Luffy burst out laughing.

"You mean _you_ thought that," Nami snapped, coming up behind Usopp. She glared at him for a moment before looking over at Franky. "So, you came back alive. Can't say I'm surprised."

"Yup. And we can use the tree for our ship, too." Franky gave a wide grin while Nami gained an expression that clearly said she was unsure about the idea.

"Oh! Guys, you have to meet my new nakama!" Luffy slipped out of Usopp's hug and moved over to stand next to Robin and Chopper, who was sitting in her arms and looked a little nervous. "That's Robin, and that's Chopper. Chopper's a doctor, and Robin's a demoness!"

"Demoness?!" Sanji came twirling out into the open in an instant. "Is she the one who was trapped in the tree?"

Zoro snorted as his nose crinkled in disgust at the sight of Sanji. Since he didn't know the blond's name, he settled for the next best thing to make fun of in order to get Sanji's attention. "Guess again, Curly Brow."

Sanji whirled to glare at him. "What was that?!"

"Oh! And that's Zoro! He was the demon who was in the tree!" Luffy pointed over at Zoro, grinning. "He's our swordsman now!"

"NANI?!" Usopp, Nami, and Sanji exclaimed at once.

"T-th-that's the demon?!" Usopp stared at Zoro in shock. "B-b-but he looks nothing like one!"

Zoro's eyes narrowed slightly. "Does that woman look like one?" He motioned with his head over to Robin, who looked amused.

"You look like you're going to cut us apart at any moment!" Nami shot back.

"How come you're more scared of him than you are of me?" Chopper piped up suddenly.

"Ehh?!" Usopp jumped back. "Y-you can talk?! How?!"

Chopper suddenly looked a little nervous and pulled down the brim of his hat so that he wouldn't have to look at Luffy and the others.

"It talks?" Sanji blinked, then leaned a little closer to the reindeer. "Huh. He's definitely not the emergency food supply, then."

Nami hit the cook over the head, sending him crashing to the ground. "Be nice! We don't know what they could do to us!"

Zoro scowled at the statement. These three were really starting to get on his nerves - _especially_ the blond - and were they not a part of Luffy's crew already, he'd probably have moved in order to slice them to pieces.

"It might be wise if you introduced yourselves," Robin suggested.

Nami moved her gaze from the collapsed Sanji, who instantly got to his feet as though he hadn't been clocked over the head a moment ago. Usopp sent a nervous look in Zoro's direction, looking like he was about to scramble back into the warehouse, but he managed to keep himself still...for the most part.

It wasn't hard for Zoro to notice the fact that Usopp's knees were knocking together.

"I'm Nami," Nami said, looking cautiously at the swordsman. "And this is Sanji, and that is Usopp." She sent a sour look at the long-nose.

Zoro eyed the three of them for a moment, then gave a slight nod in response. "Like Luffy said, I'm Zoro."

"Zoro?" An afro-covered head peered out of the warehouse. As soon as Zoro saw it, he stiffened as his eyes widened. They widened even further when he saw the skeleton walk out from inside the warehouse and come over to join the group.

"Oh, my. I don't believe my eyes. Not that I have any. Yohohohohoho!" Brook came to a stop in front of Zoro, grinning his ever-present grin.

Zoro couldn't believe what he was looking at, if his expression was anything to go by. "B-Brook?" When Brook nodded in confirmation, the swordsman demanded, "What the hell happened?! I thought that you'd gotten off the island!"

"I did, Zoro-san! I was simply returned here after dying, following which I was brought back to life some time ago. Luffy-san and our crewmembers found me last week and are proving to be quite the adventurous crew! And now you are joining us as well! Yohohohoho!" Brook tipped the top hat sitting on top of his afro. "I look forward to working with you again, Zoro-san."

"You guys know each other?" Sanji looked back and forth between Brook and Zoro with his visible eyebrow raised curiously.

"Indeed. While I was an ambassador of sorts between kingdoms, Zoro was a samurai who I ran into quite a few times over the years." Brook looked at the Wado on Zoro's waist. "Ah. I see you are missing something."

Zoro looked a little pale and grim-faced. "Yeah. I'm going to need to find two more before I feel like myself. So you still have yours?"

"Indeed. Soul Solid was buried with me, much to my delight when I awoke in this form." Brook's voice took on a different tone. "I suppose that you weren't quite so lucky."

Zoro's eyes narrowed slightly, and the expression on his face was more than enough of an answer to Brook's statement.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked, frowning.

Zoro didn't decide to answer. Instead, he sent Nami a dark look and started walking into the warehouse without a word. Brook watched the samurai go for a moment before following after Zoro.

"What was that about?" Usopp asked, watching Zoro and Brook disappear.

"Kenshi-san is quite...sensitive about what brought him to his presentation situation," Robin said carefully. "From what I have managed to pry out of him, it seems that he came into contact with a cursed sword that transformed him from a human into a demon. In order to reverse some of the damage that was done, he was trapped within that tree and was forced to remain there."

"A cursed sword?" Nami repeated.

"Only a marimo like that would think to pick up a sword that was cursed," Sanji scoffed.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Robin responded knowingly. "Katanas and other swords may appear normal to anyone who doesn't know what to sense. It is possible that this particular curse managed to hide itself from Kenshi-san."

"Curses can do that?" Chopper looked up at Robin in alarm. When she nodded in response, the reindeer gained a wide-eyed look. "I hope I don't end up running into a curse like that!"

Robin gave a slight smile in response.

"Zoro's cursed?" Luffy frowned. "How do we get rid of it?"

"I'm afraid this particular curse isn't going to leave Zoro without taking his life, unless I've missed something," Robin commented thoughtfully. "Which I might have, considering how old his curse _is_. If I knew more about what caused him to become a demon in the first place, I might be able to be more of a help."

"Does that mean you weren't originally a...a..." Usopp looked like he didn't want to finish what he was asking, but Robin seemed to know what he meant.

"No; I've been a demoness for as long as I can remember. However, humans being transformed into demons is not uncommon depending on the era that they were transformed - and what they came into contact with. For example, I haven't heard of a cursed sword accident other than once in this area." Robin looked pointedly at the warehouse. "It's simply a legend, so there's hardly any proof in it, but maybe..."

Robin's voice trailed off, leaving the group standing around for a moment.

Franky was the first to say something.

"Oh, yeah! Usopp, I'm gonna need your help with chopping down that tree." Franky looked at the long-nose. "Think you're up to it?"

"H-huh?" Usopp looked confused for a moment, then realized what it was that Franky was talking about. "Oh, yeah - sure!"

"Good! Then let's go get the stuff we're gonna need and head up the mountain." Franky gave the others a grin. "And if the rest of you want to help out, you're more than welcome to!"

"Sanji?" Nami looked at the cook expectantly. "How about you go and help them out?"

"Anything you say, Nami-swan!"

 _Well, that takes care of getting Zoro onto the crew. If you guys have any questions or suggestions for FourthWallBreaker to write about, don't hold back on emails or PMs. She does have a few other chapters that she can post, but she's always looking for more stuff._

 _In the meantime, I've got to get FWB to get more writing done in the other stuff she wants to get out here. See ya_


	3. Zoro and Ace

_Hey, guys. I know it's been a couple months, but FWB's been all over the place with her writing stuff. I'm not the only one who's trying to get her attention, and sometimes...well, she needs a break every once in a while._

 _Thanks to Lilytrue, BlackCatAnimeGirl, silverstar456, Yuno, xxXbladeangelXxx, Moony the Mature One, darkangel1992, and maru101 for the Favs and Follows._

 _xxXbladeangelXxx - Thanks. Some things still stay the same, even in dreams or other dimensions, and I don't think this group could ever be split up._

 _GrandMasters - *chuckles* I'm glad you like it._

 _If you guys are wondering where the disclaimer is, I put it on the first chapter._

 **Chapter 3 - Zoro and Ace**

It was going to take Franky some time in order to put the entire ship together with Usopp's help. In the meantime, Luffy dragged Zoro all around town so that he could introduce him to the people who he knew. Everyone had told Luffy (at threat of no meat) to not tell anyone that Zoro was the demon who had been trapped in the tree, because the entire island knew the story about the destruction of one of the towns on Dawn Island - now known as Gray Terminal.

Zoro swallowed the remains of the bottle of sake and slammed it down onto the bar, grinning. "That's some good sake. I haven't had anything this good in a long time."

"Thank you." Makino smiled at the praise. "It's a stock that I specially order from the West Blue. One of my previous customers suggested it, and I'm glad that I made the investment."

"West Blue sake, huh?" Zoro looked at the now-empty bottle curiously. "Huh. Who was the guy who suggested this? I'd like to thank him if I ever run into him."

"It was Shanks!" Luffy declared brightly. He grinned and looked up at the straw hat on his head. "He was here ten years ago, when he gave me this hat and promised to meet me as a pirate! He's so cool!"

"Shanks?" Zoro raised an eyebrow, then smirked. "Huh. I wonder how strong he is."

"He's _really_ strong! And he can scare a Sea King with just one look! Shishishishishi! I wanna get that strong!"

Zoro's smirk lengthened a little. "Scared a Sea King with one look, huh? That takes a special kind of strength."

Luffy's grin widened, and he took off his hat and looked at it with a fond expression. "I wanna get that strong."

Zoro gave a quiet chuckle. "You'd better. I don't want to have to hold back when we spar."

Luffy gained a pouting expression at the reminder Zoro had given him. Luffy had wanted to try and test his swordsman's strength, and Zoro had taken one look at him and had gone "No Swords Style," which had still sent Luffy flying a good distance when Zoro had created a _tornado_ just by spinning.

Luffy was planning on doing _something_ in order to get revenge on him later, but he didn't exactly have any idea on what he wanted to do yet.

 _Bam!_

Luffy and Zoro turned their heads and looked over at the entrance to Party's Bar while Makino looked up from taking the empty plates from in front of Luffy.

"Hello, Ace," Makino greeted with a smile when she saw the figure standing in the doorway. "It's been a while since I last saw you down here. What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to check in on my little brother." Ace walked into the bar and sat down next to Luffy. "I had heard from Sabo that he had found a new crewmember and I wanted to meet him."

"Oh!" Luffy grinned. "Ace, this is Zoro! He's my swordsman! Zoro, this is Ace! He's my older brother!"

Zoro looked over at the dark-haired man sitting on the other side of his captain, frowning. "This one isn't a dragon either, is he?"

"Nope! Shishishishi!"

"You let him meet Sabo and you didn't have him meet me?" Ace sent Luffy a glare, but the rubber teen kept laughing. He let out an annoyed sigh and looked over at Zoro. "No, I'm not a dragon. Sabo's the only one on the island."

"Sabo-kun is quite protective of his territory," Makino added. "I doubt he would let another dragon anywhere near Dawn Island unless he had a good reason for it."

Zoro grunted. "I knew dragons were territorial; I just never knew they could _talk_."

"You've met other dragons?" Ace asked, frowning. "Gramps said they'd gone into hiding a long time ago."

"...It's been a while since I've seen one, but I've seen them before. It's just that none of them had decided to _talk_ when I was around." Zoro's expression soured.

Ace grinned when he saw the look on Zoro's face, but then he frowned. "There's something about you that feels wrong. I'm not exactly sure what it is."

Zoro inclined his head and looked over at Luffy. Luffy blinked blankly in response for a moment before grinning and nodding.

"It's okay, Zoro," Luffy said, grinning. "You can trust Ace with it."

"Trust me with what?" Ace looked at Luffy with a curious frown.

"Luffy?" Makino asked, concerned.

"Oh, yeah! And you can trust Makino, too. Shishishishi. Shanks had a magic-guy on _his_ crew, and he only told Makino about what he could do!" Luffy gained a pouting expression. "They never told me, though."

"Probably because you're such a blabbermouth," Zoro snarked.

Luffy pouted. "Hey! I'm keeping you a secret!"

"Yeah, on threat of no meat."

"Luffy...?" Makino was hesitant, now. "What are you and Zoro talking about? Is it something I should be concerned about?"

"Luffy, you'd better tell me what's going on, or else you're not gonna get whatever it is that Sabo's gonna catch next," Ace warned, glaring at his brother.

Luffy froze. "No meat?"

"No meat."

That opened Luffy's mouth _wide_ open.

"Zoro's a demon that was stuck in a tree for a really long time!" Luffy leapt for Ace. "Meat!"

Ace, startled, stiffened as Luffy attempted to tackle him. There was a _whoosh_ and a flash of flames, and Zoro let out a strangled yelp as Luffy slammed into him and knocked the swordsman off his seat.

"What the hell?!" Zoro demanded. He pushed Luffy off him as the rubber boy burst out in a fit of giggles. "What was that?!"

Ace sighed and massaged his temples, his face scrunching up into an expression of annoyance. "Luffy, you really shouldn't startle me like that. I could have set something on fire."

"But you didn't!" Luffy replied. "You were all tingly!"

"Luffy..." Ace looked over at where Zoro and Luffy were lying on the ground, frowning. There was a playful light in his eyes, however.

"What _are_ you?" Zoro asked, frowning at Ace. "You don't feel like a human should."

"You can tell?" Ace asked, blinking.

"I've always had a sense of things. Ry-" Zoro paused. "...One of my friends used to think I was half animal or something."

"Was this friend a demon, too?"

The look Ace got for the question was enough to cause any noise in the room to be silenced instantly.

"Zoro wasn't always a demon," Luffy piped up helpfully. "He was turned into one."

Zoro's eyes moved to Luffy, but the younger of the two remained unaffected.

"Turned into one? Really?" Ace had something that looked like an interested expression while Makino had a wide-eyed expression of shock on her face. "I'd like to see you top my origin story."

Zoro's eyes narrowed as they moved back to look at Ace.

Luffy started snickering. Loudly. "Ace is a bonfire."

Zoro's eyes widened as he looked sharply at Luffy. "He's a _what?"_

"I was a bonfire, Luffy," Ace corrected. He sighed and rolled his eyes as Luffy continued giggling. "I just happened to be at one of Gold Roger's drunken parties and he thought it would be a good idea to turn a large bundle of sticks set on fire into a human baby. I still don't know why or _how_ he did it, because the first thing I can remember clearly is the face of Portgas D. Rouge - Mom."

Zoro blinked, trying to take in what had just been said. "You're serious."

"Yup."

Zoro blinked again, then put his head in his hands. "You people are crazy."

Luffy laughed loudly, falling on his back.

"I guess that makes me more crazy than you?" Ace asked, smirking.

The question caused Zoro to look up sharply with a narrow-eyed expression. "Do you really want to know? Luffy told you what I am - that I was _turned_ into this."

Makino gasped. "Y-you...you're from that story, aren't you? Gray Terminal-"

Zoro let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead, looking at Makino with a raised eyebrow. "What would you do if I said I was?"

Ace stiffened at the question while Makino paled.

"You're not that guy," Luffy said, frowning. "You're my swordsman."

"Samurai, Luffy," Zoro corrected as he started to get to his feet.

"Whatever. You're not gonna kill _anybody_."

The statement sent a visible shiver down Zoro's body. He grunted in response to Luffy's statement.

"Gotcha, Captain," Zoro said. "I wasn't thinking of doing that anyway."

Luffy nodded, a serious look on his face. "Good." He promptly jumped up to his own feet as his serious expression turned into a bright grin.

The statement didn't seem to do all that much for Makino, and when Ace saw the look on her face, he let out a sigh and turned to look at the bartender.

"If Luffy is able to trust him this much, he's probably safe for us to trust." Ace paused.

"Probably?" Zoro sent him a scowling look. "Look, Luffy's the only reason that I managed to get away from that tree. I've got a connection to him now." His fingers brushed the white katana at his waist. "According to _that woman_ , I'm not going to be able to do very much with this without his permission."

"Woman?" Makino repeated, frowning.

Luffy nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Her name's Robin. She knows a lot about what Zoro is."

Nami had threatened Luffy with no meat if Robin's secret got out, as well, so at least he was still keeping his mouth shut about that.

"Oh." Makino blinked, then relaxed a little. "I suppose there is that. So he's not going to go on a rampage?"

Zoro snorted at the question. "Definitely not."

Luffy shook his head at the same time that Zoro spoke, a serious look on his face. The movement from Luffy was enough to put Makino at ease.

"Well, I'm guessing that it's probably been a long time since you've been in a bar, then, considering how quickly you swallowed your drink," Makino commented, turning to look at Zoro.

"Yeah." Zoro gave the bottle he had drained a look that almost seemed to be filled with longing. "It's been too long."

"Well, so long as you don't end up getting drunk, I'm willing to provide you with as many drinks as you wish." Makino gave a slight smile.

Zoro looked at the woman in surprise, but his expression quickly changed into a grin. The demon bowed. "Thank you."

Makino and Ace blinked in surprise while Luffy started giggling at his crewmember. Then the former bonfire sighed and shook his head.

"Wow, you're a pretty formal guy," Ace commented. "I was starting to wonder if I was going to be the only guy on the island like that."

Zoro straightened and looked over at Ace while Makino brought out a bottle of sake for the samurai. The demon raised an eyebrow at Ace's statement, then grabbed the bottle and took a swig of it. "Have people's manners really degraded that far?"

"Well, we have mountain bandits in the area, so it's a little difficult to make sure that our manners stay intact," Makino stated carefully. "They were actually the ones who raised Luffy and Ace, but I was the one who taught them their manners - what could stick, anyway."

Luffy gained a pouting expression and looked over at Makino. "Hey..."

Zoro smirked at his captain's response, then frowned. "Are you telling me that there aren't any samurai traveling around anymore?"

"Samurai?" Makino gained a thoughtful expression, then shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. There have been rumors of strong swordsmen living on other islands in the Blues and on the Grand Line, but none of them have ever claimed to be samurai."

Zoro's frown deepened. "That has to be fixed."

"Ne, Zoro - we can see what we can do when we leave on Franky's ship, kay?" Luffy tugged on his crewmate's sleeve. "You'll be able to wait until then, kay?"

Zoro was a little reluctant to nod. "I'll be able to wait...for at least a little while."

"Since you guys are stuck on the island, how about I show your new buddy around?" Ace asked casually. "I've been looking for someone else to do some hunting with for a while now, and so long as Sabo still has something to look for, we should be all right."

"Hunting?" Zoro frowned at Ace, considering the other's words for a moment. Not too long after, he gave a grin. "I wouldn't mind. It'll give me some time to make sure that I still remember my attacks for One Sword-Style, at least."

Ace grinned. "Perfect! I'll meet you here in about an hour then. Sound good?"

Zoro's grin widened. "That sounds good to me."

 _If any of you are wondering, Ace's origin story is basically how the Logias are going to be made in this universe - find an element, experiment with it, and you get a person. The Marines somehow managed to get their hands on Roger's spell after Rayleigh wrote it down, and they've been experimenting with it ever since. Some of their experiments do manage to get away from them, but others...well, the three Admirals had to come from somewhere, right?_


	4. Origins: Ace

_Happy New Year!_

 _FWB thought this chapter would be appropriate to put up today, and to be honest, I have to agree with her. We've got a party going on, and it is Portgas D. Ace's birthday. Win-win._

 _Thanks to KuniaKuniKu, GloomyMercury98, Apikins, and HatakeKyasarin for the Favorites and Follows._

 _HarakeKyasarian - I'm glad you're enjoying what FWB and I are working on. Interesting was what we were aiming for, since we had a new world to explore and situations with the Straw Hats that most hadn't put them in yet. And yes, Ace is a bonfire._

 _In fact...that's going to be what you're going to read today. I won't keep you any longer than I have to, so get to it! ;)_

 **Ace - Drunk Roger + Wand + Crazy Spell + Bonfire. Enough said.**

Ace didn't come into the world in the usual way.

Not that anyone really needed to know that - he was just as normal as anyone else on the island, and his brothers didn't really care what his origins were - they were brothers, and that's pretty much all that mattered to them.

Still, that didn't change the fact that Ace was a little less normal than everyone else was. The normally even-tempered man always was a little warmer than everyone else, and if the right words were said, he could explode into such a temper that it almost seemed as though the name-caller had been burned to a crisp. Which, 99 percent of the time, turned out to have actually happened.

No, Ace wasn't exactly human. But he happened to have a good reason for it - and that particular reason sounded so much like a lie that even Usopp didn't believe it at first. Until the long-nose was proven wrong, at least.

 **Twenty Years Ago**

Roger was hosting another one of his outrageous parties, and the rogue wizard was, once again, drunk. His wife would say later that he was so drunk that he wasn't able to tell his wand from his mustache, but if that was true then Roger wouldn't have been able to turn one of his apprentices' noses a sickly green rather than the bright red it usually was.

"Captain!" Buggy covered his ball of a nose, his face turning red as the redhead sitting on the ground next to him rolled onto his back because he was laughing so hard. "It was bad enough already! Change it back!"

"Oh, don't worry." Roger's grin made him look even more like an idiot than it usually did. "It'll turn back in a day or two. I tested that spell on Shanks awhile back!"

The redhead stopped laughing and suddenly looked a little sick at the memory of that particular incident; green hair _didn't_ look very good under his straw hat. But then Shanks looked at Buggy again and collapsed into laughter.

The teenager with the clown nose glared at the laughing fellow apprentice, then turned and looked at Rayleigh, who was sitting on a crate nearby, looking amused. "Rayleigh-san! Can't you make him change it back?" He pointed at the green thing on his face with a pleading expression.

The dark-haired vice captain's small smile turned into a smirk. "I'm afraid I can't, Buggy. You'd probably end up with an even worse nosejob than you already have."

Buggy let out a groan, bemoaning the fact that his nose had basically been turned into one of those lettuce heads their cook kept on the ship.

"Lighten up, Buggy," Shanks said, finally managing to catch his breath. "All Captain did was change its color. It's not like he turned your nose into an _air horn_ or anything like that."

"That's easy for you to say!" Buggy pointed accusingly at Shanks. "You're not the one who got caught in that magic death trap and has to deal with the fact that I can come to pieces at a moment's notice!" As though to prove his point, Buggy's body abruptly collapsed into a pile chopped pieces, his head sitting on top of the entire mess. The boy let out a groan as Shanks collapsed into laughter again.

Roger laughed at his apprentice. "You'll get control of it, Buggy - don't worry about it! At least normal swords won't chop you to pieces now, right?"

Buggy's face turned red, and he exploded into a a long tirade about idiotic captains and idiotic apprentices, punctuated by plenty of curses that would have made anyone else's ears turn red. Roger and the others took it in stride, merely bursting out into loud peals of laughter at Buggy's predicament.

"Hey, Captain!" another wizard called out. "Didn't you say earlier that you had a new spell that you wanted to test?"

Shanks stopped laughing, taking a gulp of air before he looked over at his captain curiously. "A new spell?"

"Please don't test it on me," Buggy groaned as he pulled himself back together.

Rayleigh chuckled at Buggy's statement. "This isn't something that can be used on a human," he said mysteriously.

"Right!" Roger agreed. He got up from the crate he had been sitting on and grinned widely at the bonfire that his crew was sitting around. First night on an island in weeks and he'd insisted on having a party - a typical thing that the crew of rogue wizards and assorted, magically-affected people had come to expect of their captain. But why he was looking at the bonfire like that, no one really had all that much of a clue - except for Rayleigh, who was appearing increasingly amused.

Shanks sat forward, looking eager. He didn't know what his captain was going to do, but if nothing else, it should look interesting.

Roger raised his wand and pointed it at the bonfire, then started waving it about as he yelled an incantation that sounded like complete and utter nonsense. At once point, he actually jumped up and danced around the bonfire for a moment before pointing the wand at the roaring flames and yelling out one last word that sounded a lot like-

"SPADES!"

The explosion that followed caused the bonfire to snuff itself out abruptly, causing the festivities to grind to a halt. A number of annoyed yells came up from the crew as wands were set alight with what might have looked like tiny stars from a distance.

Buggy's wand lit up his face with an eerie light; the green-nosed teen looked like he was somewhere between murderous and terrified as he looked at Roger. "What did you-"

"Waaaaah!"

What was left of any conversation died at the sound of the cry.

"What is that?" Shanks asked over the sound of the wailing. He pointed his light-tipped wand over in the direction that the bonfire had been and stared in shock at what was left. "No way..."

Roger, who had been staring blankly at where the bonfire had been a moment ago, let out a delighted laugh and leapt forward, scooping up the naked little thing that was where the roaring flames had been a moment ago. "I made a baby!" He quickly turned and looked over at Rayleigh, the little baby in his hands still wailing. "Did you get everything I said?"

"Aye, Captain." Rayleigh held up a pad of paper, the page covered in what looked like diagrams and a long paragraph of strange little symbols.

"All right. Let's build another bonfire and do it again so that Ace can have a little sister!"

"Roger!"

Roger's grin twitched a little, and he turned his head as another figure approached the circle of men - a woman who seemed to glow without the need of a visible light, if only because of her strawberry blond hair. Her normally kind, brown eyes were now hard.

"What do you think you're doing?" the woman asked, frowning at her husband. Her eyes gravitated towards the wailing baby that Roger was holding. "Where did you get that baby?"

"I made it!" Roger responded innocently. "I turned the bonfire into a human!"

Rogue looked taken aback by the statement, confused by Roger's words for a moment before shaking her head. She promptly walked forward and took the baby from Roger's arms and rocked him in her arms. Rouge took the shawl that had been wrapped around her shoulders and wrapped it around the baby, leaving her arms bare to the night's cold air. "I suppose you've named him already?"

Roger gave a noise that sounded like an affirmative. "His name is Gol D. Ace!"

"D?" Rouge shot her husband a surprised look. "You said -"

"I made him, so he's a D," Roger said, surprisingly serious despite the fact that he wasn't sober. "Doesn't matter that he came from a bonfire, he's still a D!"

Rouge sighed in response to her husband's exclamation and shook her head.

"And I'm going to make him a little-"

"No!" Rouge gained something of a fierce expression. "Roger, you're horribly drunk, and I'm not about to allow you to do that ever again." She looked down at Ace, who had stopped crying and was looking up at the woman with a clear expression of confusion on his face, dark eyes wide with wonder. "I understand that you managed to create a new spell, but do you really need to use it when you're drunk and we're on the run from the government?"

Roger gained a pouting expression at his wife's reprimanding. "But I've been wanting kids for a long time, Rouge, and since you won't have them, I thought-"

"I was willing to wait until we had found somewhere safe," Rouge responded, exasperated.

Shanks carefully approached the woman, curious about the baby that she was holding. Rouge didn't notice him until he had grabbed her shoulder and was looking down at the confused baby she was holding.

"At least it isn't a full-grown man, right?" Shanks looked up at Rouge, a hesitant, expectant smile on his face. "And you gotta admit, he is kinda cute, for a fire sprite."

Roger burst out laughing at Shanks' statement. "Fire Sprite! Not even a few minutes old and he already has a nickname! Ha! I wouldn't expect anything less from my apprentice!"

"I'm your apprentice, too!" Buggy barked...only to collapse into pieces again.

As the rest of the crew roared with laughter at the cursing wizard-in-training, Rouge's annoyed expression melted into one of resigned acceptance at her husband's actions. There were just some things that you weren't able to avoid.

Later, that proved to be true in the case of a truth that he wasn't looking forward to hearing.

 **Five months later...**

Ace had been growing quickly. Already, he had a head of black hair like his father, and everyone on the crew could see that Ace had freckles like Rouge, who Ace clearly thought was his mother. Plus, he had the appetite of the flames he had been born from, so restocking milk and soft foods for the baby became a major point of order every time they arrived at an island.

In fact, Ace's first word was "Mama!", and it was easy to see who he thought was the better parent. He hardly ever left the woman's side to crawl around the deck, nearly getting under her feet almost constantly. However, Rouge didn't mind. Ace was the apple of her eye - like she was the apple of Roger's.

Unfortunately, that hadn't lasted.

Shanks held onto a crying Ace as he ran further inland, not daring to look back. Tears streamed from his own eyes, but the redhead refused to let the world know the reason.

His captain and his captain's wife were dead.

Roger had done something that had been thought to be entirely unthinkable. He had managed to find the One Piece, a legendary magical artifact that was said to have been the origin of all magic.

Shanks wasn't going to get the image out of his head of that place for years - and he didn't want to, either. _The greatest treasure in the world..._

Unfortunately, the band of pirate wizards hadn't been able to celebrate for long. Rouge and Roger had both fallen ill to the same sickness sometime early on in the journey. While it made it impossible for Rouge to use her magic for very long as a result, it made it Roger a little more crazy at times with his own magic. Only Rayleigh, a strange man who couldn't use magic himself, was able to figure out what their captain was doing half the time. And only Roger had been able to figure out what it was that Rayleigh fought with - something about "pure will" - and that had somehow managed to be transferred to some of the other wizards...Shanks included.

And now, after they had gone through everything together...Roger had turned himself in with his wife, and they had been executed together. Roger's and Rouge's last order to Shanks had been to find Garp - a high-ranked government wizard who had chased them (and drunk with them) for years - and ask him to look after the little Fire Sprite.

Shanks was going to make sure that Garp never knew that Ace had _that_ particular nickname. That was _his_ name to call Ace, now that the crew had been disbanded.

The redhead's foot caught on a root of a tree, and he stumbled for a moment before managing to right himself. Ace was still bawling his lungs out - if there were any animals or humans nearby, they'd _definitely_ know he was there.

"Shh, Ace," Shanks murmured, coming to a stop and trying to rock the baby in his arms. "Don't cry. It's going to be okay."

Ace kept crying. "Mama! Mama!"

"Rouge can't be here!" Shanks yelled in desperation. He lowered his voice and added, "I'm sorry, Fire Sprite, but the world is a cruel and harsh place."

Ace paused in his crying and stared at Shanks with wide eyes. The redhead hoped that the baby understood what he was saying.

"Roger and Rouge wanted to make sure that you were safe, Fire Sprite," Shanks continued. "They wanted to be able to raise you, but they knew that it was going to be dangerous. I'm going to make sure that you're raised in a safe place, just like they asked, all right?"'

Ace sniffled. "Mama..."

"Will always be here so that you'll never forget her." Shanks poked Ace in his chest, stabbing the fabric of the baby blue onesie that the baby was wearing. "Your dad, too, kay?" Before Ace would have had a chance to respond, Shanks shifted the baby in his arms and started running again, so that he could get to where Roger and Rouge had said Garp normally lived.

Rayleigh had dropped him off at the island without a word, adding that Roger's crew couldn't be together anymore. He was intent on going to Saobody to watch the new pirate wizard crews try to reach the One Piece, but he told Shanks that, from this day forward, he was on his own.

It didn't exactly help that the vice captain had practically kicked him and Ace out of the ship without so much as a good-bye - as though to emphasize the fact that they weren't going to be working on the same ship anymore.

It didn't take Shanks too long to reach the town that Rayleigh and Roger had both said was on the island. The redhead saw the windmills from the top of the hill as he reached the top of the ridge.

"All right. Now to find Garp." Shanks started down the hill, keeping Ace close to his chest so that the baby wouldn't end up getting bounced around too much. Ace had stopped crying, but he was whimpering a little. "Don't worry, all right, Ace? You're going to be safe."

Shanks came down into the village and scanned the area. Considering that it was in the middle of the night, there probably wasn't anyone who was going to be up and about.

But, then again, there was _one_ voice that didn't sound like it was asleep...

Shanks turned, and he caught sight of a figure standing outside of a building with the name "Party's Bar" over the entrance. He was definitely going to have to make another visit to this place later when he wasn't filling out an order from his captain.

"You're one of Roger's, aren't you?" the large figure in the doorway asked gruffly. A hand reached for a wand, then paused. "Is that...?"

Shanks held Ace closer to himself, in an almost protective manner. Ace shifted in response, trying to lift his head so that he could see what it was that Shanks was looking at. The redhead let the baby look over in the figure's direction, but he kept a harsh gaze on the older man.

"You'd better not do anything to him," Shanks said warningly.

The other let out a sigh. "That is him, then. The kid that Roger asked me to keep an eye out for."

The statement surprised Shanks. "You-"

"I visited Roger." Garp stepped out from under the awning and came out onto the street. He held out his arms - clearly ready to take the baby from Shanks - but the redhead wasn't ready to let go of the little Fire Sprite yet.

"You have to promise that he's not going to get pulled into your 'training sessions'," Shanks stated seriously. "And that he's going to grow up like anyone else would."

Garp snorted at that. "What makes you think that-"

"Fire!"

It was at this point that all of Ace's hair decided to burst into flames as he glared at Garp with a ferocity that normally wasn't seen in a baby.

Shanks let out a yelp and held Ace at arm's length. "Ace, what have we told you about doing that?! You could burn somebody!"

The glare that was on Ace's face faded - as did the fire, returning his hair to its normal black color.

Garp looked a little lost for words. Shanks sent the government wizard a glare.

"Don't tell _anyone_ he can do that," Shanks said seriously. "And you have to promise on your honor that he isn't going to be hunted down for that."

Garp blinked for a moment, then seemed to recover his senses. "What do you take me for?! I talked to Roger, remember?"

Shanks considered that for a moment, remembering what Roger had always said about Garp - and that his captain had laughed afterwards about the old man as if he was a friend of some kind.

Reluctant, Shanks handed Ace over to Garp, who looked down at the baby with a guarded expression.

Ace stared back at Garp with a curious expression before he stuck his tongue out at him. Shanks would have become defensive and swiped the baby back from Garp, but then the man did something unexpected.

He burst out laughing.

Shanks, taken aback, looked at Garp in surprise.

"I think I'm going to enjoy raising this brat," Garp said, grinning like an idiot. He looked over at Shanks, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "You don't have to worry, you brat."

Shanks wasn't exactly sure how to take that, but it looked like Garp was going to keep the promise that he had made to Roger and take care of Ace.

Shanks simply gave a nod in response, then turned and ran off. As he ran out of the village, he decided that he was going to stick around for a few days - long enough to arrange for a ride to a nearby island so that he could get himself a ship...and maybe start making a crew of his own.

 _Well, there you go. That's how Ace came to be in this particular world. Just trying to imagine those pirates going shopping for the food Ace needs...a friend of FWB's suggested that Rouge would go into grocery stores armed and demand all the baby foods they had. Just picturing that makes me grin._


End file.
